Inject
by Fan Fan Girl
Summary: 50 sentences. Spoilers. Her stomach lurches as she meets his eyes, and after all those hints and subtle kindnesses, she is not so sure she wants this, not anymore. Xelha/Folon.


Inject

**#****01 – Ring**  
At first they don't see it for what it is—a ring of lies, self-fulfilling prophecy—_I'll be me and you be him and we'll be happy, won't we then?_

**#02 – Hero**  
Without her the world would never have been saved; he still can't decide if he blames her or not.

**#03 – Memory**  
The ambush, the scathing words, the split grin of insanity when he'd tried to kill them—yes, she remembers the first time they met.

**#04 - Box**  
He's more guarded than usual when Georg's name comes up, and for good reason, too: the name evokes years spent strapped in a cage, straining away from burning syringes...

**#05 - Run**  
But he's just ashamed; he can never tell her that he would have died sooner than have gone without.

**#06 - Hurricane**  
When he fights, it's like a hurricane—mad laughter, twisting fists—punches that are frightening, inescapable extensions of scaled armor that burst through the storm.

**#07 - Wings**  
And when she fights, it's like a dance—buoyant and lovely, full of turns and flow, a moving prism.

**#08 - Cold**  
For an Ice Queen, he's never found her particularly cold.

**#09 – Red**  
Her stomach lurches as she meets his eyes, and after all those hints and subtle kindnesses, she is not so sure she wants this, not anymore.

**#10 - Drink**  
He drinks in her image—modest queen, determined heroine, steadfast lover—and it turns sour in his mouth.

**#11 - Midnight**  
In this darkness the lie is born, in a place where no one can see them, and most importantly, where they cannot see each other.

**#12 - Temptation**  
He wouldn't call what he feels for her love—more like _loathing, pity, revulsion_—but she's too easy of a target for him to resist.

**#13 - View**  
The whole of his life is a horror she knows she will never understand, but it's more than enough to pull her in, like a moth to a funeral pyre.

**#14 - Music**  
She used to like music; he never will.

**#15 - Silk**  
They reach a point when they stop wondering if it will ever feel good.

**#16 - Cover**  
Long before then he realizes that she is using him, and the knowledge becomes the sweetest pain he knows; it is humiliating, but he just laughs and plays the part.

**#17 - Promise**  
Only one promise exists between them: _you are to tell no one._

**#18 - Dream**  
It is only in her dreams that the one-winged youth and pale joker are one man, merging in a smear of blood and fire and red-blue hair.

**#19 - Candle**  
She cries out beneath him, flings her hand—the candle rolls away.

**#20 - Talent**  
If nothing else, she will admit that he is a capable actor, and that sometimes she finds herself convinced by the lie.

**#21 - Silence**  
They have much to talk about, but many nights there is little more than sullen, desperate silence between them.

**#22 – Journey**  
That girl is gone, the stone-faced figure that passes under the last string of lanterns, the final arch of pink blossoms in lively Komo Mai; she left that night and did not come back.

**#23 - Fire**  
He wishes he had been there—he would have loved to have finish off Georg himself.

**#24 - Strength**  
The curse forced on him, it is a...gift.

**#25 - Mask**_  
Maybe the waif isn't the goody-goody I thought she was, _he muses as her mask slips again, feeling almost triumphant to see the rare bitterness flicker across her face.

**#26 - Ice**  
They meet in her castle bedroom – ever cool and pristine – only once, and agree that the blue sheets feel much too clean.

**#27 - Fall**  
The biggest lie she tells herself is that someday she'll be able to save this one, too.

**#28 - Forgotten**  
She doesn't want to be remembered that way... but at least _they_ will remember!

**#29 - Dance**  
They don't dance—dancing implies grace, rhythm, allure—no, they clash.

**#30 – Body**** climb**  
Sometimes it's what he hates most about her, if only because he loves it the most; the slender body in the dark, the ghostly touch, the way she sighs, gasps, pulls her fingers slowly up his spine until he's enjoying the fantasy a little too damn much and—snap—someone's pretty little wrist is broken.

**#31 - Sacred**  
He isn't there when she releases the ocean, but he is there to see the sky spread and collapse and release its wash of tears.

**#32 - Farewells**  
The night Giacomo dies he becomes an orphan once more, released from the shadow of the Empire and its wretched clown of a ruler.

**#33 - World**  
In that dark forest, that divide between worlds, the blue-haired one embraces her at last, and the jester watches from the shadows as she shyly reciprocates, and he feels nothing, not yet.

**#34 - Formal**  
When they meet, it is never a formal affair—she is never Queen Xelha of Wazn, and he never Folon, former agent of the Imperial army; they are just two lost souls who have found a home, however broken, in each other.

**#35 - Fever**  
Is that mirth in his smile? or madness?

**#36 - Laugh**  
One day he's just laughing and laughing and laughing as the blood runs, the metal cleaves, the skin burns, the nails crack, as her beautiful white neck shines with a necklace of indigo bruises and she drops to the floor whimpering—it's not nearly so funny to her.

**#37 - Lies**  
"I love you," she tries once.

**#38 - Forever**  
Forever ended years ago.

**#39 - Overwhelmed**  
His bitterness overwhelms her in a way the blue one's never had; to love him is to be submerged in acid.

**#40 - Whisper**  
It is all she can do to try to help her replacement, her fake, to rest by his side and sweetly whisper things that are not meant for him.

**#41 - Wait**  
They wait for the day when they can stand on their own, respectable for once in how many years, and part ways, they hope, for good.

**#42 - Talk**  
"Are you happy now?"

**#43 - Search**  
Once she is in, she can't seem to find a way out of this maze of stories and roles and motives; she can't seem to find herself.

**#44 - Hope**  
Sometimes kissing him feels like sucking poison from a wound.

**#45 - Eclipse**  
They both fell under the shadow of the blue one, both abandoned in his wake and left damaged by his whims.

**#46 - Gravity**  
Spite and loneliness pulled them together—only gravity holds them there.

**#47 - Highway**  
He wonders if he will ever have the strength, or the heartlessness, to give her up.

**#48 - Unknown**  
So many things there are that they don't know about each other, yet neither of them offers to fill in the blanks.

**#49 - Lock**  
As she keeps no lock on her heart it is laughably easy to make her trust him; he secretly hopes she crafts one before long.

**#50 - Breathe**  
They let each other go and are able to breathe at last.

* * *

A/N: Yay for crack pairings! This is kind of a sister-fic to Two Birds, as I wrote them at the same time, though the styles and formatting are different. I couldn't decide which way I liked better so I tried both, heh. I might go back and edit one if someone expresses a preference either way~

So, this pairing. You know, as much as I love my OTP, I also love playing with the idea of what would happen if Xelha and Kalas _didn't_ end up together, and that's how garbage like this is born. So years and years after being jilted, a still heartbroken Xelha finds Folon and latches on to him for his uncanny similarities to Kalas (both spent their younger years being experimented on by Georg, both are bitter and sarcastic (my theory is that verbal abuse turns Xelha on), and both harbor traumatizing memories just begging to be healed). Folon I can see going along with it originally as something of a joke. Hey, it's a fun way to mess with the heroine's head, so why not? That,and it might appeal to him in a totally degrading sort of way—deep down inside he might actually be_ jealous_ of Kalas, the one Georg actually cared about, the one who got away...

Anyways, they start seeing each other in secret. Since they are older and supposedly more mature, things might turn sexual, but then again, they might not. EWatLO hardly ever mentions intercourse, so this all depends on how far you want to take your interpretation of the characters. I can also see Folon being sort of abusive, not knowing how to properly love another person and all. Poor uncomplaining Xelha would probably take it. The pairing could turn serious, eventually, if Folon ever grew out of the part Xelha wanted him to play.

But yeah! Blah blah blah, I ramble way too much, those are my thoughts on Xelha/Folon. Again, if I ever get any ideas I would love to write more about them. We'll see. In the meantime, thanks for reading!


End file.
